Page 26

I bite my lip to stop myself from crying out as I’m thrown into a chair. My tied wrists ache from hitting the wooden back, and my anxiety spikes since I can’t see shit with this hood over my head.

That bitch Di put it on after I spit on her.

Sorry, Hayes, I don’t think playing with a blindfold will be in our future.

Taking a deep breath, I try to calm myself down. Somehow, without a shadow of a doubt, I know the club is looking for me. That Hayes is looking for me. I just have to buy myself some time.

My body tenses as I hear feet shuffling on the floor, coming toward me. The hood is roughly ripped from my head. I bite my cheek to stop myself from screaming when I feel hair pulled from my head.

Motherfucker.

Reluctantly I open my eyes, and when I see him, my heart stutters.

“Phillip,” I rasp. “You’re alive.”

He smiles wickedly. “I am.”

“We thought you were dead. Laura’s been so worried about you.”

The corner of his eye twitches. “What about you? Were you worried?”

“Of course. I hated not being able to tell her anything.”

He hums.

“Can you help me out of here? We need to go find Laura and tell her the good news.” I turn my body so he has room to untie my wrists.

Phillip doesn’t move toward me and shakes his head. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not? Don’t you want to see your sister?”

A sound comes out of the back of his throat that makes the hairs on my arms stand. “Stop mentioning that whore!”

“Wh-I don’t understand…” I tell him as my heart races.

He sneers. “I fucking hate that traitor sister of mine. I don’t care that she’s been looking for me. All I care about is you! All I’ve ever cared about is you!”

“Phillip…”

“All she had to do was keep her nose out of my business but no…that was asking too much. So I did what I had to do. I put her in timeout so she can learn to stop asking questions. She wouldn’t even tell me about you. Did you know she tried to keep us apart?”

I shake my head. “I don’t understand. What do you mean you put her in timeout, and what do you mean she tried to keep us apart?”

He chuckles darkly. “Don’t worry about Laura. She will never bother us again.”

I suck in a breath as dread fills me.

“And us? What do you mean when you say she tried to keep us apart?”

“You’re mine.”

I shake my head slowly. “Phillip, how am I yours?”

“Do you remember when we met? I saw you sitting on the swing, looking as pretty as a little flower. I came up and pushed you.” He jams his finger into his chest. “I made you laugh. I made you happy until that fucking savage came up and ruined everything.”

Hayes. He means Hayes.

“He ripped you away like you belonged to him.” He shakes his head. “For years I had to sit on the sidelines, biding my time waiting for him to leave you. Then he did, and I thought I had my chance. Only you started dating that fool and thought you could marry him.” He scoffs. “I couldn’t let that happen. Not when you’re mine.”

My body freezes.

“What do you mean you couldn’t let that happen Phillip?” I ask, feeling completely numb as tears track down my cheeks.

He shrugs. “I killed him.”

I choke back a sob. “N-no. He died in an accident.”

Phillip tilts his head and smiles widely. “Did he though?”

“Yes…”

“Do you know what that means, Bailey?”

“What?”

“That I’m really good at cleaning up the messes you created.”

“You killed a good man,” I tell him as I try to slow my breathing down.

Phillip tsks. “He wasn’t a good man, Bailey. He might have pretended to be, but he wasn’t. No, you can’t be a good man and take what’s not yours.”

“Phillip, I didn’t even know you liked me. You’ve never said anything.”

His jaw clenches. “Because you were always busy with someone else. They were distracting you! I got rid of Hayes, and then I got rid of Lance. I thought Hayes would be smart enough to stay away, but clearly I’ll have to teach him another lesson.”

“What do you mean?”

Phillip points at me. “He can’t have you. He will never treat you the way you’re supposed to be treated. I watched him fuck you on his bike. I know you didn’t like it, Bailey. The way you cried as he took you savagely.” He shakes his head.

Oh god. He’s been watching. He’s the one that was leaving the gifts. I swallow down the bile that tries to come up. He was lurking when Hayes asked me to be his old lady. Phillip’s been here the entire time, and he had no idea.

“Phillip, I don’t know what to say,” I say, shaking my head slowly.

I want to tell him that I’ll never be his and that he’s crazy. This is purely insane. How have I missed this? Have I always been this blind?

“It’s okay, Bailey. Just know, though, if I can’t have you, no one will.”

I hang my head, trying to gather my thoughts and calm down.

I just need to keep him talking. The longer he talks, the less chance I have of him touching me and the more time I buy Hayes and the guys.

I pick my head up. “The gifts. They were from you?”

“Of course, who else would they be from?” he asks with confusion all over his face.

“But the guy who tried to take me?”

Phillip nods. “Clitus. He was from the neighborhood, but I didn’t know him until he became a fraternity brother of mine in college. Thanks for taking him out by the way. If you hadn’t, then I would have.”

“Why did you pull him in?”

Phillip starts to pace the room. “Clitus wasn’t the brightest of brothers. Let’s just say that he made it exceptionally easy to get blackmail on him. I needed some help to get you away from Hayes, and he was the man for the job.”

He pulled an innocent man into his twisted plot. What else has he done that I don’t know about?

“What’s your plan, Phillip?”

He checks his watch. “I have accounts I’ve been funneling money into for years. You and I are going to leave here and go to a non-extradition country of your choosing. I was thinking Algeria or Afghanistan.”

“My life is here, Phillip. I can’t leave.”

He lunges forward and grabs me by the hair on the back of my head. Just barely I stop myself from crying out. “Your life isn’t here anymore, and you need to accept that. You and I are going to happen, Bailey, whether you like it or not.”

His phone rings, and he lets me go. He pulls it out of his pocket and looks down at the screen. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”

When he walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him, I break down.

Please god, let Hayes find me before it’s too late. Please.

I listen to every fucking word he says. Every hateful and evil thing he tells her.

How the fuck did I miss it? How was I so blind?

I knew he had a crush on her, it was always obvious, but he never made a move. I thought it was nothing and I didn’t have to worry about it. I was wrong.

Fang squeezes my shoulder, holding me in place. We don’t have eyes in the room, so we don’t know if he has a weapon or not, and I’m not willing to risk Bailey’s safety to find out.

His phone rings, and I take a deep breath. It’s almost game time.

Before we broke in, we made a plan in the parking lot. Dex would call his phone and lure him out of the apartment, acting as one of Phillip’s upset customers. As soon as he steps out of the room he’s holding Bailey in, we will attack.

I watch the handle turn and then open. Phillip takes three steps out of the room when I swing. Phillip drops like a bag of bricks with one solid punch to the face. Dropping down, I roll him over and straddle his body.

I wrap my hands around his neck and lean in close. “Why? Why would you do this to her if you care so much about her?”

“Sh-she’s mine,” he gasps, his face turning red.

I let up pressure on his neck and punch him again. “If you hate me so much, why not come for me directly, huh? Why fuck with my girl?”

Phillip tries to buck me off of him, but I don’t move. With the years of training and the amount of sheer anger rolling through me, he will never get the upper hand.

Phillip thrashes under me. “She’s not yours! She’s mine! Always mine!”

Leaning close, I spit on his face. “That’s where you’re wrong, motherfucker. That girl has always been mine.”

“Hay-Hayes!” Bailey cries out.

Fang touches my shoulder. “Let me have him, brother. Go take care of your girl.”

“Just know that when I kill you, I’m going to take my sweet fucking time. After the hell you put my woman through, you don’t deserve an easy death.” I push off of him and stand.

“Take him to the dungeon,” I say.

Fang nods.

When I go to step away from Phillip, he grabs onto the back of my ankle. With one swift kick, I nail him in the ribs.

“You cry like a little bitch,” Fang tells Phillip.

I hear scuffling, but I don’t look back. I know Fang has it under control, and if he doesn’t, the place is crawling with brothers who will be more than glad to take him out.

“Hayes!” Bailey cries when she sees me.

Her head drops to her chest in relief.

“I’m right here, baby,” I tell her as I get down on the floor in front of her, cupping her cheeks. “Are you hurt?”

Bailey’s eyes are blown wide. “He’s fucking insane, Hayes. Fucking insane.”

“I know, Bails.” I reach behind her back and start undoing her wrists.

“No, you don’t get it, Hayes. He said something about putting Laura in timeout. He said that he killed Lance. He’s fucking crazy.”

“I know, baby, I heard it all.”

As soon as the rope falls off her wrists, she lunges forward, throwing herself into my arms and knocking me back onto my ass. I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight.

“I was so scared,” she mumbles against my neck.

“Me fucking too, baby. Me fuckin’ too. I’m sorry it took me so long. We couldn’t see if he had a weapon, and we had to come up with a plan.”

Bailey pulls back and cups my face in her hands as she looks me in the eyes. “I knew you would come for me and that I had to keep him talking.”

I run my hand over the back of her head. “You did so good, baby. I’m so proud of you.”

I pull her into me and kiss her. The kiss says a million things.

It reminds her that I love her. It lets her know that I’m glad she’s still with me. It says that I’m thankful she’s still alive.

Someone clears their throat, and Bailey pulls back, resting her forehead on mine.

“Yeah?” I ask gruffly.

“We found Laura,” Loyal says from somewhere behind me.

Bailey jumps up on shaky legs and almost falls over.

“Careful, Bails,” I say as I catch her and stand.

Bailey pushes past me and comes to a stop when she sees Tiny stepping out of a basement.

“Is she okay?” Bailey demands.

Tiny doesn’t stop moving toward the front door. “She’s barely breathing, and we need to get her to a hospital now.”

Bailey makes a sound of distress.

“Come on, baby, let’s get her the help she needs,” I tell her as I take her hand in mine.

Bailey looks up at me. “We won’t leave her, right?”

“Not if you don’t want to.”

“But don’t you have to do things around here?” Bailey asks as I push her toward the door.

“No, these guys have it under control and will call me if they need me.” I look over and see Loyal nod.

He looks over at Bailey. “I’m glad you’re okay, Bailey.”

“Thanks, Loyal.” She says as she steps outside.

Happy peeks his head out of the back of the van. “Let’s fuckin’ go or I’m leaving without you two.”

“Come on.” Bailey squeezes my hand and we start running toward the van.

Before we even manage to shut the door, Happy takes off, driving like a maniac as Tiny treats Laura the best he can.

Bailey leans forward and brushes the greasy hair off of her friend’s face. “You’re okay, Laura. Everything is okay.”

I hope she’s right, because I really don’t want my girl to carry the guilt of her best friend’s death if she dies. Because if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that Bailey would blame herself, and I won’t fucking have it.